The code moulded into the sidewall is not simply a size. After the width, the profile and the rim diameter come two more characters that matter as much: a load index and a speed rating. The load index is the weight that tyre is built to carry, and the speed rating describes the sustained speed its construction was designed for. Going below either is not a saving.
Some cars also left the factory on a tyre made to that manufacturer's own specification and marked with a small code on the sidewall. The casing stiffness and the compound were tuned for that particular car, and on some models you can genuinely feel it. The same tyre without the marking is usually very close, and where it is not, you will be told.
When the original fitment has been discontinued, and plenty have been, the job is to find an honest equivalent: the same size, the same or a higher speed rating, the same or a higher load index, a comparable wet rating, and ideally the same tyre on both ends of an axle. It is not the original, and we will not call it one.
Whether the car is on the drive in Rushey Green or a side street in Southend, the fitting happens there. If you would rather we came to you on Bromley Road at the end of the working day, that is fine too. The wheel comes off in Rushey Green, not on a ramp in Lewisham. Nothing is towed out of Hither Green or Southend; the work finishes there.
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Fitting a planned set here is mostly a parking problem, and it solves itself if we come to you. The bays near the Broadway are contested all day, the streets off Brownhill Road are full from teatime onwards, and Catford Hill is nobody's idea of a good place to work with a jack out of a boot. We turn up where the car already sits.
A car on Bromley Road came to us on a fitment that had been out of production for years. We put up two genuine alternatives, explained where each one differed from what had been on the car, and let the owner choose.
A set change on Rushey Green turned up one tyre rated well below the other three, fitted somewhere else at some point and never mentioned to the owner. It was the wrong tyre for that car.
A pair needed near Brownhill Road on a car whose rear tyres were half worn but sound. We matched the make and pattern already fitted rather than putting on whatever was cheapest, because a mismatched axle is a handling problem dressed up as a bargain.
Yes, because it is not really about top speed. The rating describes how the casing is built and how much heat it can shed, and a lower rated tyre on a car specified for a higher one runs hotter and deforms more under load.
Ordinary situation. We look for the same size with an equal or higher load index and speed rating, a similar wet grip rating and a pattern of the same general type. You are told which parts match exactly and which are close.
Legally yes, in practice we would rather you did not. Two patterns on the same axle behave differently in the wet and under braking, and the car pulls when the grip is uneven. Buying a matched pair at a time is sensible.
On some cars it makes a noticeable difference to ride and steering feel, and on others it amounts to very little. We will tell you which we think yours is, and we can supply Michelin, Continental and the rest either way.
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